Sitting in their cluttered Old Town apartment, smoking joints and talking about how drunk they got at Luke’s the night before, Max and Alan will probably remind you of a few guys you know, too. They rant about ex-girlfriends, bicker about the laundry, play air guitar to ’80s hair metal. Toys and empty bottles litter their apartment, and sitting on the coffee table is the MacBook Max was watching porn on just before his roommate returned with his laundry.

Max and Alan drink more often than they should and take recreational drugs but they are, for the most part, harmless — and aimless. The same cannot be said of the childhood friend who will darken their doorstep that evening. That visitor is the basis of conflict in “Penetrator,” an Ad Hoc Beaumont production opening this weekend at the Art Studio, Inc.

Written in 1993 by Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson, “Penetrator” was composed in a way that encourages theater companies to change the time, place and setting so viewers experience a play set in the here and now. You’ll hear references to Luke’s, Tequila Rok, maybe even a few people you know. This flexibility makes the central war of the play interchangeable — Neilson had enough foresight to know that there would always be war going on somewhere.

“Some of the things that I’m interested in, thematically, is the juxtaposition between these two guys living in Beaumont — going to work, going to bars, hitting on women — and this man who’s been in Afghanistan, seeing things that you or I won’t ever see, and the meeting of these two worlds,” said Michael Mason, the actor playing Woody, the tense AWOL veteran who shows up at Max and Alan’s front door unannounced.

Staged in a small room off the Art Studio’s main gallery, viewers are basically seated in Max and Alan’s apartment. It’s an intimate production — very intimate. Sitting in on conversations between Max and Alan (played by Jody Reho and William Armitage) feels voyeuristic, particularly considering how casual their back-and-forth is.

Reho and Armitage play their respective roles — and play off each other — so well that you settle in, get comfy and impulsively avert your gaze when things get uncomfortable. And they will get uncomfortable.

“Penetrator’s” discomfort comes not so much from its war themes, but from its exploration of masculinity and the dynamic of male friendships — the way feelings and emotions can go unmentioned for years, only to bubble up one night, erupting into violence. Secondary themes of lost innocence and sexual aggression are just the icing on the uncomfortable cake.

Despite its prickliness, “Penetrator” is definitely an entertaining show. Its core ideas build on a base of casual comedy inherent in Max and Alan’s relationship, and there are moments of true tenderness that give the play a nice balance. As is characteristic of their productions, Ad Hoc Beaumont created video and musical elements that give it added dynamism and modernity. It’s a fun watch.

But rest assured, you’ll leave this play with a bit of emotional residue. With ample cursing, drinking, sex, violence and drug use, this is definitely a play for adults — but that also means there will be beer, which you can snag at the door for a donation.

It should surprise no one that Ad Hoc Beaumont is putting on a production this intense. This is, after all, the same theater company that staged a dark spaghetti western — complete with surprisingly realistic gun fights — at Spindletop-Gladys City.

Most recently, members of Ad Hoc Beaumont dressed up in thrift store suits and giant papier-mache masks, then drove around town selling fake drugs. To participate in this theater experience, you had to call an unfamiliar phone number and schedule a meet-up. Ad Hoc Beaumont then came to your home — completely in character — and sold a $1 bag of rock candy that looked not unlike Walt’s wares from “Breaking Bad.” The entire production lasted five minutes.